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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. rest — a break
  3. spring — of water
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. spring — a coil
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. net — in sport
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — for sport
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. net — after costs
  13. court — of law
  14. rest — what's left
  15. spring — the season
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. net — for catching
  18. rest — what's left
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. bark — to shout
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. bark — a dog's sound

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com